Veteran South African batsman Hashim Amla on Saturday broke Indian captain Virat Kohli’s record to become the fastest to reach the milestone of 27 ODI centuries.
Hashim Amla
Port Elizabeth:
Amla slammed 108 runs off 120 deliveries in the first ODI against Pakistan at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. However, his efforts went in vain as Pakistan won the game by five wickets.
Amla steadily paced his innings and played cautiously throughout his 108-run knock to overhaul Kohli’s record.
It took Amla 167 innings to score 27th ODI hundred while Kohli had achieved the milestone in his 169th innings in the first ODI against England on 15 January 2017 in Pune. Amla took a couple of innings fewer than Kohli to own the record.
However, Amla has been receiving some flak for his knock that came at less than a run-a-ball. The South Africa opener 155-run stand for the second wicket with Rassie van der Dussen but the host managed only 266 in its quota of 50 overs despite losing only two wickets.
South Africa’s total became the lowest total in a 50-over match after losing only two wickets since the 1992 World Cup.
Amla remained unbeaten on 108 but South Africa was able to add only 106 runs in its last 15 overs, failing to get the big push in the death overs.
Former opener Herschelle Gibbs lashed out at the approach of Amla and Dussen, who had made his ODI debut on Saturday. Cricket fans on social media also criticised the former, calling his knock “a selfish” one.
SA captain Faf du Plessis though defended Amla and Dussen, saying the Pakistan bowlers were better in the middle overs. However, he conceded that his team ended up 10-20 runs short towards the end.
“We were 10-15 runs short. The foundation was good but we could not add those extra runs in the end. They batted really well.
These games are all about learning for us. We have had a great couple of weeks but today was a great learning curve for us,” Du Plessis said.
He added: “In-form Hashim is really important for us. Amla showed intent from the starting for us and his innings is a positive for us. They bowled really well in the middle overs. They bowled better than us in that phase.”
One of the most consistent batsmen of the modern era, Amla has been a mainstay in South Africa’s batting line-up for years now. Amla’s 108-run knock was laced with seven boundaries and a six.
In reply, Pakistan chased down the target with five balls to spare.
Pakistan got off to a strong start as openers Imam-ul-Haq (86) and Fakhar Zaman (25) posted a 45-run stand for the opening wicket.
Babar Azam (49) then combined with Mohammad Hafeez (71) to sail Pakistan through. Duanne Olivier was the pick of the bowlers for the host with two wickets under his belt.
With the 5-wicket win, Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.
Brief scores: South Africa 266/2 in 50 overs lost to Pakistan 267/5 in 49.1 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 86, Mohammad Hafeez 71*, B Azam 49)